


I Cannot Sleep, I Cannot Dream Tonight

by deathbitch



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Caring Brother Diego, Diego Adores Klaus, Feels, Gen, Give Klaus a Hug, I wrote this instead of doing school work, One Shot, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, no beta we die like ben, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathbitch/pseuds/deathbitch
Summary: Diego swore to protect Klaus. And he would. Diego would protect Klaus until the sky fell; if it was the last thing he ever did.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 4
Kudos: 106





	I Cannot Sleep, I Cannot Dream Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> So. Last night I was drunk, playing Apex Legends and listening to the YMCA when the idea struck me. 
> 
> It’s a short - a blurb really - look into a small part of Diego and Klaus’ relationship. It’s obvious that Diego adores Klaus and I wanted to explore that aspect of their dynamic. It’s writing practice more than anything but I thought they’d be no harm in sharing it.
> 
> I’ve proof-read twice and I have no beta so it’s a ‘’well, here have my garbage’’ situation. Hope you enjoy.

It was no secret that Klaus was treated especially bad during their childhood and early teenaged lives. Anything that could even be considered “ _insolence_ ” was punished accordingly; this was meant being locked in the confides of the mausoleum until Klaus would plead and beg to be let out, swearing on his soul that he would not act out again. Other times, Reginald would keep him in his room and refuse to feed him. Both situations were not exactly great.

Diego remembers when the two of them were teenagers, they couldn’t have been any older than 13, when Klaus was locked in the mausoleum for four nights. The longest he had ever been locked in.

The evening had started out nice enough; just after 5pm and the two of them were sat on Klaus’s bed, text books open in front of them in pretend study. Their focus had gone off track long ago, their conversation starting on math and ending on something or other to do with what thirteen-year-olds perceived as love and crushes.

“You know the lady who presents the weather?” Diego asked with a pen still absent-mindedly in his hand despite not taking notes on anything in over an hour, “She’s cute.”

“Oh yeah, I know the one. She is cute,” Klaus agreed with an approving nod. He watched as Diego spoke, the hand that clutched the pen moved with his words, he figured it to be a habit he had picked up from all his knife training. Something to do to keep itchy fingers preoccupied.

“The man that comes to teach us literature is cute,” Klaus said. He leaned against the pillows that were propped against the wall, hands resting easily over his stomach, “Sometimes I get stuff wrong on purpose so he will come and help me.”

Diego giggled at him, repositioning himself so he sat with his legs crossed and facing Klaus, “You act like you don’t make it really obvious.”

Klaus opened his mouth like he was shocked, gently nudging Diego in the shoulder with his socked foot, his face melting into an easy smile, “I don’t make it obvious! I will have you know that I am _extremely_ nonchalant.”

Diego made a face at him as though he was impressed, the corners of his mouth tugged downwards slightly, “Now that’s an impressive word.”

“I’m an impressive person, brother. You’ll see,” Klaus teased, his lips in an ever present smile as Diego put his hand on Klaus’ lower leg just above the ankle and gave it a few pats before letting it rest there.

“I don’t need to see, I already know,” Diego commented and a silence fell over them for a few moments. It was nice. Nice and calm; Klaus looked out the window above the bed and he sighed quietly in contentment at the sight of the orange tones that stretched the width of the window. The sun was falling, bringing an averagely decent day to a close.

The sound of the door busting open caused a thump to tear through both their hearts like unwanted electricity and Klaus sat alert, looking to the door where Reginald stood.

“ _Number Two!_ What are you doing? Get out of here at once!” He commanded, his voice not quite a shout but loud enough and steeled with that practiced authority that demanded obedience. Diego rose to his feet quickly, scooping up the book that had long since been neglected.

“You know there is no social time in the evenings. You have broken the rules.”

Klaus was aware of the race in his heart all at once, a small fluttering that caused him to stand up and speak almost without meaning to, “It’s my fault.”

Both Reginald and Diego had turned their attention to him. He forced himself to maintain eye contact with Reginald as to avoid Diego’s eyes which he knew without looking were both pleading and questioning. “What did you say, Four?”

Klaus wanted to falter and tear his gaze away, close in on himself and shrink into the bed - but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t let Diego be punished. He held his ground and tightened his hands into fists as to ameliorate the on setting tremble in his finger tips; “I said it’s my fault. I’m the one that dragged him in here when he was in his own room. It’s - he did nothing.”

There was an intensity in Reginald’s eyes as he stepped forward, taking Klaus by the arm and walking him soundlessly from the room. Klaus allowed himself to breath then, at first a sharp inhale before it became ragged.

He heard his name being called as he was walked up the hallway and he turned to look at Diego who stood and stared after him. Klaus swiped the tear from his cheek the second he was aware of it and forced himself to swallow down a sob. Reginald pulled his arm to keep his attention straight ahead as he was walked to the one place he dreaded the most in the world.

And so he had stayed there for four nights. Four nights and three days in pitch black torture; the screaming souls and wretched words of the ghosts and demons that plagued him made sure their presence were known. When Klaus couldn’t scream any more and when there were no tears left to cry he retired himself to a foetal position, clutching desperately at his ears as to drown out the voices to no avail.

Klaus thought of Diego and he thought about Ben. When the mausoleum doors finally opened Klaus was shaking from the cold and his body hurt from the hours of laying on the floor. He raised his head to see a shadowed figure at the door and through his swimming thoughts he heard a harsh voice asking him if he had learned his lesson.

He nodded his head obediently, silently standing up and hesitantly stepping towards the door as though silently asking permission if he was allowed out or not. Reginald stepped away and Klaus flushed with relief, wanting nothing more than to escape the prison he found himself in.

Klaus looked up at Reginald’s face when he passed him and almost shrunk under his fiery gaze. He wordlessly walked on, not daring to look back as he walked the familiar route back to his bedroom. The light from the windows he passed told him it was the daytime but whether it was morning or afternoon, he could not be sure. When he finally reached his bedroom the door shut behind him on Reginald’s behalf, shutting him in.

Klaus let out a shaky sigh and pivoted slowly on the spot, making sure to take in every detail that his eyes landed on as though to remember everything all over again. It had seemed like an eternity since he had been in here, it always does.

The tears began to line his eyes when the door opened gently. Klaus looked to see Diego standing in the threshold, his fingers resting on the handle before he shut the door behind him and walked a couple paces into the room, “Oh my God,” He muttered, stepping towards Klaus and began to reach his hands out.

Klaus whimpered when Diego’s arms made their way around his shoulders and suddenly there was a weakness in his legs, bringing him to his knees. Diego lowered himself with him, keeping him in his arms as Klaus’s tiny frame collapsed against him and he buried his face into his neck with a wet sob. He cried and cried and cried. Diego could feel the tears on his skin even through the relatively thick layer of clothing and it broke his heart to see the brother he adored in such an emotional state. 

Diego squeezed him closer, muttering his name as he stared ahead with hard, furrowed eyebrows. It was on that day that he swore he would never let anyone or anything hurt Klaus ever again. 

The memory left him like ripples in a river, the picture bleeding away as though something had broken the surface of the water. That was nearly twenty years ago and a lot had changed since then.

The two boys had left the Academy within months of each other; they were already walking on thin ice with their intentions of staying but when Ben had died that had been the final straw.

Of course Diego had tried to keep in contact but Klaus had strayed somewhere down his dark and troubled path. For a while, he didn’t want to be found. Diego would sometimes think about how, even before they had left the Academy, he would find Klaus passed out somewhere in the mansion, the strong smell of liquor wrapped around him like a second skin. Diego would drag him into his room before he was found and let him sleep it off. 

It’s just what they did. They protected each other, it didn’t matter how much time had or hadn’t passed. 

Klaus had been distant for almost five years when he had left the Academy; Diego could count the times they spoke on one hand. It wasn’t until Diego saw Klaus sitting in a diner, holding hands across the table with some unknown man and smiling in a way he remembered from childhood that he decided to rekindle their connection. 

They exchanged numbers and Diego gave him his address that he had scribbled on the back of a crinkly receipt and promised that he would take him in whenever he needed, no warnings needed and no matter the time. 

Klaus took him up on that a few times through the years - He would crash with Diego for a few nights, or Diego would keep him company in the city for the day, making sure he stayed out of trouble and paying for him to eat. 

That was before Reginald died and the siblings were all recalled back to the Academy to forcibly relive past traumas and confront heated conflicts. 

Diego saw him stood in the foyer of the mansion - all long legs in skinny jeans, tattoos and eye makeup. He got his attention by calling his name and Klaus turned to look at him with a smile of greeting, “Diego! To what do I owe this honor?”

“Are you doing anything?” Diego asked him, watching as Klaus made a face as though he was deep in thought. He shrugged finally and shook his head.

“I have time for you, Diego,” Klaus said as he fiddled with something in his pocket and pulled a cigarette from a banged up box before placing it between his lips. He shoved the packet back into his pocket in exchange for a lighter that he used to light the cigarette; it stayed in his mouth as he spoke, “What do you have in mind?”

“Do you remember ... when we were teenagers...mom would make us hot cocoa and we would sit in the courtyard to stargaze or-or watch the sun set?” Diego asked, watching Klaus with eyes that searched his face for any hints of remembrance.

Klaus’s eyebrow twitched and the smile on his face became genuine. There was a new shimmer in his eyes as though he just remembered something that he hadn’t thought about in years and that much was probably true. He took the cigarette from his mouth and blew the smoke out the side of his mouth, “Holy shit. We haven’t done that in ...,” He shook his head slightly with a raise in his eyebrows, “Years.”

Diego turned his head to look at the grandiose double door entrance. The setting sun shone through the colored frosted glass, the iron branches that stretched over the glass moulded into intricate designs casted shadows onto the dark wooden floor they stood on, “You want to do it again?”

Klaus huffed out a laugh; an expression of amusement, “I want nothing more.”

They sat in the courtyard for hours. The sun had set long ago, leaving in its place a black night sky sprinkled with stars that shimmered in miniature pinpricks around a moon that shone bright and proud above them. They talked and talked and talked. About everything and anything that came to them, it was easy, like no time had passed at all and they were still the same teenagers that used this time as an escape from everything else that was going on in their lives.

Klaus had seemed so young in his genuine laughter, the protective barrier he wore so well like armor had been dismantled piece by piece as the hours went by. Diego looked at him in fondness; his brown eyes glittered with endless amounts of admiration he held for his brother. Diego knew this couldn’t last forever, he knew that soon they would return to their chaotic lives that involved the both of them dealing with heartbreak and drama pertaining to the end of the world of all things, but for now that didn’t matter.

All that mattered to Diego was that he had Klaus here in his life again - though through rather unconventional means - and he was never letting him out of his grasp again. When Klaus had cried on his shoulder that day until he couldn’t cry anymore he swore no harm would come to him ever again. Whether it was protecting him from himself or from veterans that he provoked or from the snide comments of the siblings in the building behind him, Diego swore to protect Klaus. And he would. Diego would protect Klaus until the sky fell; if it was the last thing he ever did.

**Author's Note:**

> I really love the idea of Klaus being the only person within the siblings that Diego really gravitates towards and cares about. Not to say he doesn’t care about the others (quite clearly he does, we’ve both watched the show), but I think that it’s clear there’s a special bond between the two of them. 
> 
> I adore the show and can’t wait for a second season. Hey, when you’re missing out on content why not make your own? Heh. Thank you so much for reading this even though it’s super short. Really do hope you like it - I would love to hear your thoughts if you had any. I’m open to criticism, I’m relatively knew to writing so any thoughts on improvements are welcome. Or if you think it’s shite you can also say that.
> 
> Title is from I Miss You - Blink 182. Peace.


End file.
